I'm very new with Ubuntu and generally with linux.
I saw ubuntu and it seems like this OS is really good and stable, and so I decided to install it alongside my windows 7 OS.

I have a few problems with the installation.
Here is what I did:

I downloaded the 64bit version from Ubuntu official website, and burned it on a dvd.

I set the boot sequence to first load from my CD-Rom.

Ubuntu installation started, and I chose "Install Ubuntu" in the menu. (where there is also a "Try Ubuntu" option)

I clicked forward until I got into the installation type screen

As you can see, the installation wont show my actual details about my hard drive!
I have 1 hard drive with 750 GB -
80 GB - My main drive with windows 7 OS
600GB - All of my stuff
20GB Free space that I saved for Ubuntu
But the installation wont show that!

Reboot and use the "TRY UBUNTU" option. You can install from there.
–
RingtailSep 23 '12 at 21:03

Try booting into TRY UBUNTU, and then before opening the installer, opening Terminal and running sudo apt-get remove dmraid. Let it finish, and then try to start the installer.
–
hexafractionSep 23 '12 at 21:55

2 Answers
2

I've seen people with this problem before here on askubuntu (Ubuntu inslaller seeing the disk as one large unpartitioned space, not seeing any Windows partitions) and it usually was caused by Windows using Dynamic Disks, which is a proprietary MS extension to the standard MBR partitioning scheme.

Be careful, making any modifications to the partitions from Ubuntu installer when it can't see the existing partitions will result in data loss. You need to convert the disk to a "Basic disk" in MS terminology before proceeding.

Update: after some googling I see that Ubuntu installer should be aware of Dynamic disks and at least warn the user that it can't make modifications to the partition table. So the issue may be caused by something else. At any rate, you should not proceed until the installer sees all the partitions on the disk, forcing it to create new partitions on top will result in data loss.

One requires third-party tools, none of which are free AFAIK, to convert to a basic disk.
–
hexafractionSep 23 '12 at 21:53

ObsessiveFOSS - Thanks for your suggestion. I tried it, but still I don't get the full information about my hard drive.
–
user92322Sep 24 '12 at 3:19

Sergey, Thanks for your comment. Do I have to erase everything on my hard drive in order to convert it to a "Basic disk"?
–
user92322Sep 24 '12 at 3:21

@user92322: have you confirmed that Windows shows the disk as Dynamic? In this case my guess would be yes, the easiest (?) would be to back up all the data, re-partition the drive and re-install Windows. Or to use a separate hard drive for Ubuntu. I'm a bit confused by the fact that Ubuntu is seemingly supposed to at least warn you about dynamic discs, so the problem may be in something else. I don't use Windows so I never had this problem personally.
–
SergeySep 24 '12 at 3:27

Hey! thanks for your very quick reply. I did not confirmed it. But I also don't find any related suggestions that might solve my problem, apart to convert my disk. My purpose is to install ubuntu alongside windows 7. Will I be able to install win7 on a "basic disk"? I really wondering why my disk is even "Dynamic" at all.
–
user92322Sep 24 '12 at 3:36